Although Manchester United have certainly carried out their fair share of summer spending in recent windows, the Red Devils nonetheless find themselves linked with a whole host of new talent ahead of the approaching January transfer period.

Louis van Gaal’s expensively assembled side may well be sitting comfortably near the top of the table at this current moment in time, but because his team have still looked distinctly short of goal-scoring form in 2015/16 there is seemingly still a great deal of work to be done at Old Trafford.

Such a statement clearly throws the club’s apparent prowess in the transfer market into doubt, for it honestly seems as if Man United are just buying players for the sake of it. However, because Bayern Munich’s notoriously effective winger – Arjen Robben – has been the most recent name linked with the Red Devils this season, the Old Trafford faithful will likely find their collective transfer-fuelled excitement rising once again.

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So, should Louis van Gaal really be moving for the talented Dutchman this January, or does this merely represent another ill-conceived move at the club that would likely prove rather pointless?

Whilst the former PSV, Chelsea and Real Madrid man has been somewhat cast aside recently due to a succession of testing injury concerns at the Allianz, on his day, Arjen Robben is simply unplayable.

Every single football fan across Europe knows exactly how influential the wide-man can prove at times, marking him down as one of the undoubtedly strongest players of his generation.

When it comes to dangerously quick movement on the counter-attack, sublime ball-control in even the most crowded of scenarios, as well as just an admirable determination to never-say-die when the going gets tough, this is a player no club team would likely turn down on the basis of pure talent alone. His diving antics can nonetheless prove absolutely tiresome on occasion, acting as the only real downfall within Robben’s overall game.

The well-known Dutch international would therefore improve Manchester United’s title winning chances rather dramatically on paper. The fast pace of the Premier League would be perfectly suited to someone of his general skill-set, as would the often naïve nature of English referees, who regularly buckle at the first opportunity to blow up for players who go down too easily in the box.

However, the Old Trafford hierarchy must nonetheless act sensibly when discussing the potential behind this particular deal. Arjen Robben himself may well be interested in linking up with his former boss at Manchester United – considering his apparent lack of first team action at Bayern since returning from injury – but surely Red Devils fans must have found themselves in almost the exact same position before?

It remains important to learn from the ill-fated Angel Di Maria saga, as it proves that no matter how big a name you can proudly sport on the back of your shirt, sometimes majorly expensive gambles simply prove too unstable to work out in the end.

Louis van Gaal had also supposedly signed the most impressive young Dutch talent currently operating out there – in the shape of Memphis Depay – as a response to Di Maria’s failure to make it at Old Trafford. Why then would the subsequent capture of Arjen Robben really prove necessary?

Manchester United ultimately put their neck on the line regarding their expensive preference of Memphis Depay last summer, so the club have no choice but to lie in their metaphorical bed now that it’s been made for them. The 21-year-old up and coming star represents everything that Arjen Robben is not – someone approaching the peak years of their career, with something to prove at the highest level, and enough left in the tank to develop even further at Old Trafford.

Were Robben to be made available for a knock-down transfer fee this January, then Manchester United would be well within their rights to move for such an unquestionably talented asset. As he has reportedly been valued up at an incredible £49.7 million, however - for an ageing 31-year-old remember – this deal seemingly makes no sense for the Red Devils.

Sooner or later, Louis van Gaal is going to have to knuckle down with his managerial duties behind the scenes at Old Trafford, rather than constantly relying on the increasingly prevalent transfer kitty on offer at his club.

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